DISTRESSING

deplorable, distressing, lamentable, pitiful, sad, sorry

(adjective) bad; unfortunate; “my finances were in a deplorable state”; “a lamentable decision”; “her clothes were in sad shape”; “a sorry state of affairs”

distressing, distressful, disturbing, perturbing, troubling, worrisome, worrying

(adjective) causing distress or worry or anxiety; “distressing (or disturbing) news”; “lived in heroic if something distressful isolation”; “a disturbing amount of crime”; “a revelation that was most perturbing”; “a new and troubling thought”; “in a particularly worrisome predicament”; “a worrying situation”; “a worrying time”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Adjective

distressing (comparative more distressing, superlative most distressing)

Causing distress; upsetting.

Verb

distressing

present participle of distress

Source: Wiktionary


Dis*tress"ing, a.

Definition: Causing distress; painful; unpleasant.

Dis*tress"ing, adv.

Definition: In a distressing manner.

DISTRESS

Dis*tress", n. Etym: [OE. destresse, distresse, OF. destresse, destrece, F. détresse, OF. destrecier to distress, (assumed) LL. districtiare, fr. L. districtus, p. p. of distringere. See Distrain, and cf. Stress.]

1. Extreme pain or suffering; anguish of body or mind; as, to suffer distress from the gout, or from the loss of friends. Not fearing death nor shrinking for distress. Shak.

2. That which occasions suffering; painful situation; misfortune; affliction; misery. Affliction's sons are brothers in distress. Burns.

3. A state of danger or necessity; as, a ship in distress, from leaking, loss of spars, want of provisions or water, etc.

4. (Law) (a) The act of distraining; the taking of a personal chattel out of the possession of a wrongdoer, by way of pledge for redress of an injury, or for the performance of a duty, as for nonpayment of rent or taxes, or for injury done by cattle, etc. (b) The thing taken by distraining; that which is seized to procure satisfaction. Bouvier. Kent. Burrill. If he were not paid, he would straight go and take a distress of goods and cattle. Spenser. The distress thus taken must be proportioned to the thing distrained for. Blackstone. Abuse of distress. (Law) See under Abuse.

Syn.

– Affliction; suffering; pain; agony; misery; torment; anguish; grief; sorrow; calamity; misfortune; trouble; adversity. See Affliction.

Dis*tress", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Distressed; p. pr. & vb. n. Distressing.] Etym: [Cf. OF. destrecier. See Distress, n.]

1. To cause pain or anguish to; to pain; to oppress with calamity; to afflict; to harass; to make miserable. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. 2 Cor. iv. 8.

2. To compel by pain or suffering. Men who can neither be distressed nor won into a sacrifice of duty. A. Hamilton.

3. (Law)

Definition: To seize for debt; to distrain.

Syn.

– To pain; grieve; harass; trouble; perplex; afflict; worry; annoy.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



RESET




Word of the Day

21 April 2025

ENCYCLOPEDIA

(noun) a reference work (often in several volumes) containing articles on various topics (often arranged in alphabetical order) dealing with the entire range of human knowledge or with some particular specialty


Do you know this game?

Wordscapes

Wordscapes is a popular word game consistently in the top charts of both Google Play Store and Apple App Store. The Android version has more than 10 million installs. This guide will help you get more coins in less than two minutes of playing the game. Continue reading Wordscapes: Get More Coins